Sunday, October 28, 2012

In honor of Halloween in a few days, are the four cousins in their costumes last year. Mine are on either end. :-)

Reading - I'm reading a spreadsheet for work. Jealous? ;-)

Watching - Jungle Junction is on at the moment, but I'm working & blogging.

Listening to - Ditto above, although we listened to a lot of Psy, Gagnam Style this weekend. My older son is obsessed with dancing to that song.

Cooking/Baking - lots of meal prep this weekend. I made 4 batches of taquitos, 2 pans of chicken pastina, & a double batch of penne with pesto & butternut squash.

Happy you accomplished this week - So happy that we closed our case with the Department of Transportation. It wasn't the resolution we wanted, but at this point, we were a day away from being sued into complying, and it was a lose/lose situation that was hanging over our heads fo rmonths. Also, we launched our product last week, and my work was featured prominently in Times Square. ;-)

Saturday, October 27, 2012

I'm exhausted, & it's not even 8:00 here in Seattle. Work was insane on Thursday, & I worked throughout the night & still had to go into the office all day on Friday. Fun times. :-) Two weeks left at this job, & fingers crossed that my new role will be less intense. I've been clenching my jaw so much at work that I had to see the dentist - I have pain radiating in my face & a terrible headache. In positive dieting news, I can't eat very many foods, as it's just too painful. . . . looking at the bright side!

I also went for a four mile run & managed to get out & back before the rain started up again. It was the best run in months & I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think I needed to just run from all of the stress from work. It was fabulous!

I went to the mall to return a couple of shirts for the kids. I'm on a mission to find cute summery outfits (so easy to find this time of year) that will be appropriate for our Christmas cards. Come again, you say? We're heading to Hawaii in a few weeks, & want to take Christmas pictures of the kids on the beach. Still missing a red polo shirt, so I'll have to either order something online, or keep searching at various local stores. My time is very limited these days, but we'll see what I can do.

I want to make either banana muffins or banana cookies for the kids lunches this week, so I'm hoping to get that done tomorrow, as well as swimming lessons, a workout of some sort, & take the boys to a Halloween party. :-)

And, because I need the accountability, here's what I actually accomplished on the giant to do list this week. I did squeeze all of this in between an 80 hour work week, so I'm pleased that I managed to do anything.

M's out of town, so I'll be handling both soccer practices solo - Done!

Ski bus sign ups (we're signing S up for ski bus on early dismissal days in
the winter. He'll get to ride a bus up to the mountain, ski for half a day in a
lesson with his buddies, & then the bus takes the kids back to school in the
evening.) It's an awesome program, but I'll be on my own with the boys, &
you have to be in line at least 90 minutes before sign up starts. Fun times, for
sure. - Done!

Work on Hawaii packing list. - The list itself isn't done, but I've been working on it! Almost there.

Get blood drawn. I've put off a ton of appointments over the past few
months, since work was so crazy. Time to catch up. - Yes! Done.

Call for a doctor's appointment -Not done. Must do this on Monday.

Visit the dentist. - Done!

Clean out my closet. Still on the to do list. ;-) - Nope.

Make granola bars or cookies for the after soccer game snacks on Saturday - Switched to cheese popcorn (purchased) instead. Too crazy this week to make something.

Bake (a bunch of stuff) - Nope.

Make two freezer meals - Done!

Start handing off all of my work, as I transition roles. - Sadly, no. They extended my transition time by another week. :-(

Finalize our Hawaii budget. - Done!

Call the Department of Transportation about our ongoing battle on property
access rights. This has been a nightmare that has caused much loss of sleep. - Oh my gosh, this is finally done. After 5 months of hell. The end result was not exactly what we wanted, but we had to close this out by a deadline & squeaked in with one day to spare.

And how about all of you? Did you have a productive week/Saturday? Hope you are all staying safe in the pending storm!

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

I loved this post from Sharon, as it reminded me that M & I are due for resetting our own priorities, & talking them through to make sure we agree on where we're headed in the long-term as a family. We have restructured some of our goals & long-term plans, but here's where we landed.

Priority order:

We're going to sell our vacation house. This has been a very difficult decision (mostly for me - M is very pragmatic). We LOVE our vacation house - more than our primary residence, in fact. However, owning that house means we can never remodel our primary residence, which is in desperate need of a major remodel. I'm glad we discussed and reached a conclusion of how to fund our long(er) range goals, but I'm definitely still wrapping my head around this one. Our timeline for getting the house listed & closing is a year (we'll list in the spring), but we're not desperate to sell. We estimate that we will break even (after closing costs & fees), but selling the house will free up close to $3,000/month.

Pay off our second mortgage. Doing this will free us up those funds to pay for the remodel. Our timeline for paying this off is 2017. We currently owe $182K.

Fund a remodel for our primary residence. As you can see from #2, we will use the money freed up by paying off the second mortgage (and, maybe part of the money from the vacation house) to pay for our remodel.We don't have a solid estimate for how much we will need to spend, but plan to start investigating. I think somewhere under $300K. Our timeline is the same as above - start funding in 2017.

Fully fund the boys college tuition funds. We save in a 529 plan that covers college tuition, & have a plan in place for funding that account. We're still on the fence about how to fund other college expenses (room & board, books etc), but we will likely figure that out as we get closer. Our kids are 5 & 6. Four years of tuition equals 400 credits, and we currently have 172 credits for each child. Our goal was to have 200 credits in each account by the end of 2012, thus reaching the 50% mark. However, I don't think we're be able to get there & have prioritized paying down our second mortgage over this goal.Our timeline for fully funding these accounts is 2020, when our boys are 13 & 14. The cost (in current dollars, & the tuition credit prices rise each year) is just under $80,000.

After we accomplish goals 1-4, barring any other "new" financial goals, our plan is to pay off our primary residence before we retire. We'll then be moving to Hawaii when/after the boys are in college. Our timeline is to have our primary residence paid off by 2023.We owe $546K on this.

Our next long(er) range step is to establish a 2013 budget (both yearly & monthly) & look for other opportunities to reprioritize our spending to match our goals. How do you prepare for a new year? Do you do long range goal setting & tracking?

Monday, October 22, 2012

I feel exhausted just thinking about the week ahead, but I love planning out my action items. It makes me feel more "in control". :-)

Here's what I need to accomplish this week:

5 cardio workouts, 3 strength workouts, 2 pilates/yoga workouts

Meal prep

M's out of town, so I'll be handling both soccer practices solo

Ski bus sign ups (we're signing S up for ski bus on early dismissal days in the winter. He'll get to ride a bus up to the mountain, ski for half a day in a lesson with his buddies, & then the bus takes the kids back to school in the evening.) It's an awesome program, but I'll be on my own with the boys, & you have to be in line at least 90 minutes before sign up starts. Fun times, for sure.

Work on Hawaii packing list.

Get blood drawn. I've put off a ton of appointments over the past few months, since work was so crazy. Time to catch up.

Call for a doctor's appointment

Visit the dentist.

Clean out my closet. Still on the to do list. ;-)

Make granola bars or cookies for the after soccer game snacks on Saturday

Bake (a bunch of stuff)

Make two freezer meals

Start handing off all of my work, as I transition roles.

Finalize our Hawaii budget.

Call the Department of Transportation about our ongoing battle on property access rights. This has been a nightmare that has caused much loss of sleep.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

M & I have been planning a trip to Hawaii with the kids for almost a year, but had to put it on hold due to a vacation blackout with my team. On Friday, I accepted a new role (different team, different job, same company) & the vacation blackout is now a moot point. We're going to Hawaii!!!

Although we saved quite a bit for this vacation out of my bonus last month, we have a budget, & want to stick with it as much as possible.

Here's our current trip budget, for a six day trip to Maui, with four people (two adults, & two kids)

Flights - tickets from Seattle to Maui are generally pretty expensive, so we opted to drive to Bellingham (about two hours away) to take advantage of a huge sale that Alaska ran this summer. Total ticket price for all four - $1500

Hotel - this was our big splurge. We have two young kids, & have made the mistake of staying in one hotel room before - as soon as the kids are asleep at 8:00 pm, the lights go off. Nothing like sitting in the dark on your vacation while your kids snore in the background. ;-) We rented a two bedroom at this place in Ka'anapali, complete with a full kitchen & washing machine. Cooking the majority of our meals will obviously save money, & honestly, we enjoy eating at "home" for meals more than dining out with the boys. ;-) - $4500. Gulp.

Rental car - Our budget was $300, and we just booked a car with Avis for $260.

Food - I'm having a hard time predicting this one without knowing how much grocery prices will be on Maui, but here's what I've estimated so far. I've made a menu based on the food that will be easiest to prepare. We're also planning on bringing spices, etc from home to keep costs down. We are eating a few meals out, which is included. We have $800 budgeted, but I'm hoping to keep it closer to $750, based on the breakout below.

Listening To - we played Kinect Dance Central this weekend, so I've got all kinds of songs running through my head.

Cooking/baking - I didn't really cook much this weekend. We went out to dinner for our anniversary last night, & tonight & made goat cheese crostini to serve with the curried butternut squash soup I froze last weekend. M, however, marinated & grilled 15 pounds of chicken tenderloins for the freezer.

Happy you accomplished this week - I got a new job!!! WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!! I accepted a new offer on Friday, & I'm thrilled. I'll be switching teams in a couple of weeks. Here's hoping this job is a lot less stressful & a lot more flexible.

Thankful for today - as a result of the new job, we're going to be able to go to Hawaii with the kids in November. The plan was on hold as a result of a vacation blackout in my previous role, and we are so happy that we actually get to go.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

I'm very happy to report that I've finally completed one of my 2012 goals! In 2011, I set a goal of hitting 4500 minutes of cardio, & I crushed that goal & ended the year with 8700 minutes. So, I "went big" in 2012, & set my goal at 10,000 minutes. Or, 167 hours of cardio!! Today I pushed passed 10,000 & I'm currently at 10,049. I'm thinking I might revise my goal upward to 12,000 - just to continue to motivate myself. :-)

You can read all about my 2012 goals here, but here's a quick run down of my progress so far.

Complete 10,000 minutes of cardio. My goal was 4500 for 2011, and I crushed
this goal in 2012 (ended with 8700 minutes). I want to go big with this goal.
:-) - Achieved!!!

Run a 1/2 marathon. I was fully trained for my first 1/2 marathon before I
broke my foot in May. I'm starting from scratch, but want to get back to it. - I've done a 5K, a 15K, 2 half marathons, & Hood to Coast Relay, so I'll give myself a giant PASS! :-)

Spend less than $500 on clothing for myself and less than $500 for
shoes/clothes for the kids. I shop for entertainment, and it's totally
unnecessary. - Yeah, no. Haven't crunched the numbers, but I know I've spent close to this on running gear/shoes alone.

Complete 100 strength training workouts. - I'm at 67 for the year, so I really need to pick up the pace.

Give up artificial sugar. (Mostly, the Splenda in my coffee & tea.) This
will be TOUGH for me. :-) - I'm 90% there. I've had the few random Vitamin Waters, etc. I have given all sweetner in my morning coffee, which is huge.

Reach 50% of our goal for the boys college tuition GET accounts, for both
kids. This will take about $12,000. - We're at 43%.

I really need to stock the freezer this weekend. I'm down to a few extra leftover lunch items, & a couple of servings of seasoned taco meat. All of these late nights at work have meant minimal time in the kitchen, & I need to build up my stock pile again.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

As usual, the month is flying by. I love checking on my goals throughout the month, because it's motivating to see where I'm doing well, & reminds me to get back on track on other goals.

Lose 3 lbs. I'm currently at 144.8, so I'd like to close down the month at
141.8 - I'm currently down .4 lbs, so making some progress, albeit slowly.

Continue to track all of my eating in My Fitness Pal. - On track!

Avoid snacks at work. One of my coworkers has about 20-25 bowls of candy,
nuts, bars, & treats out every day. I realized I was spending a ton of my
calories on those candies, & I've decided to avoid the work snacks until
January. I'm hoping that helps me break the habit entirely. - On track!

Percentage of each category (slight off due to rounding, but close enough):

Produce - 33%

Dairy - 12%

Pantry - 8%

Snacks - 8%

Prepared food - 5%

Bread - 3%

Health - 5%

Christmas - 24%

How about you? What do you spend the majority of your shopping dollars on? This was somewhat of a rarity for us, because we didn't purchase any meat. With the exception of the Christmas gift, the rest of the spending was about in line with my expectations.

Now I need to make sure I use up all of that fabulous (&, expensive) produce before it goes to waste. I'm planning on making butternut squash soup, roasting the sprouts, & using the peppers and celery with my jalapeno yogurt dip. We didn't need to buy tomatoes this week, as our plants are still producing thanks to the fall sunshine.

We try not to buy too many prepared snacks, but Pirate's Booty is N's favorite lunch item. The Zbars are perfect before sports practice, & I have experimented with making my own. They weren't a hit, so I should continue my recipe search. I'm starting half marathon training again & love cottage cheese as a high protein, healthy snack. Oh, & the tortellini was an impulse purchase, but we had it as a side dish last night (1/3 of the package). It's delicious. :-)

ETA - I randomly found a post from last October, where I purchased many of the same items. Here's how the duplicates stacked up:

Brussel sprouts - actually less expensive, by $.80

Pancake mix - same

Zbars - same

Bagels - same

Cucumber - same

Bananas - same

Grapes - $.20 more

Milk - $1.04 more

Apples - less expensive by $1.50 (who knew?!)

I was pretty surprised by the results. With the exception of the milk, most of the other prices are similar.

Friday, October 5, 2012

Days like these are just so rare, that I wanted to take the time to write about it, & be grateful.

Those of you who read regularly know that I've been job searching, both inside my current company, and externally. This week, I really got on the ball & sent out my resume & heard back from 3 of the 4 managers I contacted. I had two meetings today (in our company, you do a casual meet & greet, and if that goes well, you can then be asked to formally interview) & both hiring managers asked me to interview for the role. Yes!!

I hustled back from my meetings & ran a work/charity 5K with one of my work friends. It was a fabulous, gorgeous fall day in Seattle & we ran in the sunshine. My running was not great (I'd had no water or lunch because of the interviews), but we finished & laughed. I bumped into an old coworker & had so much fun catching up.

And in the strangest twist of fate ever, an old manager (from about 10 years ago) contacted me today with a job opportunity. We're meeting on Monday to talk further.

M & I are also considering a relocation to the Portland area, & a coworker offered to (virtually) introduce me to a contact at a company I'd love to work for in Portland. He's a senior director & I can only assume, extremely busy. I never heard back after my initial email, but he reached out to me today for a call.

Once you put it out there, things really start happening!!! I can't describe how nice it felt to know that I have options. Even if all of the roles aren't the perfect fit, it was actually FUN (I hate interviewing, so this is huge for me to say) to chat, meet new people, & talk about opportunities.

The best part of my day? S (my oldest, he's 6) has a terrible habit of forgetting things at school (his coat, homework, lunch bag, etc). He typically only remembers one of the three items. It's really frustrating & we've lost 6 or 7 jackets this year (hoodie sweatshirts). I came up with the idea of making laminated tag for the outside of his back pack with a picture of each item he needs to remember before he leaves his classroom. . .. when I picked him up today? He had 5 (!!!!) jackets (all his, found in his class room) + his homework & lunch bag. He was so very proud of himself, & it totally made my day.

My cup runneth over today. I'm all teary just righting about it & thinking about how awesome I felt all day. So to the job finding universe? Thank you! I owe you one. :-)

Definitely not today, but since we're talking about fabulous days, one of my favorite days ever at our vacation house.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

M is traveling most of this week & next, which makes life interesting for sure.

However, in positive news, I've worked out 4 out of the last 5 days (today was my rest day, & did I ever need it!) & I signed up to do a charity 5K at work on Friday with a friend. I need to get in my pilates workout tonight after my small crew is asleep, as the core work really helps my back pain.

I also sent four resumes out to internal groups at my company, & heard back from three of the hiring managers asking for meetings. Additionally, I sent my resume to two external companies. I'm so happy that I'm making progress! I've worked at the same company for 15 years, so these are big steps for me to break out of my comfort zone. :-) One of the roles (of course, the least interesting of all of them) may allow for a completely remote work schedule (aka working in my jammies at home) & a very flexible overall schedule. That would change our life entirely, especially if M takes a promotion in January that will require more travel. *fingers crossed*

With M out of town this weekend, it's important for me to have an action plan, so everything gets done, AND we have fun.

Still formulating a plan, but there will be - running, a bouncy house party at our gym, two soccer games, swimming practice, & maybe some closet clean ups & baking.

How is your week going? We're also preparing for Halloween, so I'll leave you with this picture from last year. And yes, my son's costume was way too small (hand me down). ;-) We did upgrade him to a larger costume, but kids love Spiderman!

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Lose 4 pounds. I started 2012 at 150, and I'm currently at 143.5. I'd like to break into the 130s! - Yikes. I gained on our Las Vegas trip, & I'm still trying to stabilize my weight. I'm at 144.8 right now.

Track all of my food & exercise in My Fitness Pal. - Yes, with the exception of when we were on vacation. I'll give myself a pass. ;-)

Spend $0 on clothing/makeup for myself. I may need new running shoes, but that remains TBD. -I allowed for a few splurges when I got my bonus, & bought myself less than $100 worth of clothes. I'm okay with this.

Pay off our credit card bill. We have a small balance that we've been carrying over, but my September bonus will clear this. - Done!

Buy the boys 5 tuition credits each. - Done!

Pay $3000 off on the principal of our 2nd mortgage. - We crushed this by paying just over $10,000 extra.

Consult with a resume service. Did I mention that I'm looking for a new job, after 15 years with the same company? :-) - Yes! I now have a revised resume.

Investigate job market in Portland. Oh, and a potential relocation? :-) -I've made progress by researching jobs, and sending out my resume to a few places.

Have one date night with M. - Done!

Stick to budget for my mom's birthday trip. My sister & I are taking her to Las Vegas for her 60th. My budget is $2000. (Disclaimer - That's what remains - I've already purchased flights, etc). - We spent closer to $4000, but I offset this by my gambling winnings.

Clean all of the closets in our house. They are a wreck! - What was I thinking - every closet in the house? I did 4, & feel like a hero. :-)

Bonus goal - meal plan every week in September. - Done! It made my life so much easier during the week.

Overall, I'm pleased. Clearly, my fitness suffered this month, but I have a plan in place to address this going forward. I'm so much more pleasant & sane when I get my workouts in. Running helps me manage my stress, so it's critical that I make time for it.

I haven't given too much thought to October, but there's no time like the present. :-)

Lose 3 lbs. I'm currently at 144.8, so I'd like to close down the month at 141.8

Continue to track all of my eating in My Fitness Pal.

Avoid snacks at work. One of my coworkers has about 20-25 bowls of candy, nuts, bars, & treats out every day. I realized I was spending a ton of my calories on those candies, & I've decided to avoid the work snacks until January. I'm hoping that helps me break the habit entirely.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Before I get to the actual numbers, I'll just caveat September by saying that my yearly stock options vest in September, & I also receive my yearly bonus. As a result, our income is exponentially higher than during a typical month.